Bees

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Bee and Pollination Ecology Group has completed its field-tested model of honeybee colony dynamics; and, if so, whether strategies to protect bee colonies have yet been developed.

Lord De Mauley: Two seasons of field work have now been completed. The project is due to finish in March 2014. The results from this project will be used to inform future control strategies.
	The Government already have strategies in place to protect honey bees. In 2009, Defra and the Welsh Government launched the Healthy Bees Plan which is aimed at improving and protecting the health of honeybees over the next 10 years. Similar strategies are in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In addition, following a review of the current bee pest and disease control policies, Defra and the Welsh Government launched a consultation on 10 January seeking stakeholders views on the proposals emerging from the review.

Charities: Family Fund

Lord Harrison: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the criteria by which the Family Fund gives money to impoverished families enable awards to be made in respect of diabetics.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The Family Fund Trust provided grants to over 59,000 families caring for a disabled or seriously ill child under 18 in the past year.
	The fund manages its budget by targeting its discretionary grants towards low income families caring for disabled or seriously children with additional complex needs that affect a child across all areas of their lives. This means that not all disabled children, including those with diabetes, will receive a grant from the trust. However, the trust has given grants to over 800 children with diabetes over the past two years. The trust's eligibility criteria are set out on its website at: www.familyfund.org.uk/grants/our-disability-criteria.

Education: GCSEs

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have had any discussions with examination boards regarding GCSE English grade boundaries.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The Government have had no discussions with examination boards regarding GCSE English grade boundaries. Responsibility for qualification standards and awarding rests with Ofqual, the independent regulator of qualifications, which has a statutory responsibility to secure standards in qualifications between years and between examination boards.

Questions for Written Answer

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Questions for Written Answer in the House of Lords tabled to the Department for Education were (1) answered, and (2) not answered, within 10 working days in the last Session and to date this Session.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: Data from 2010 is no longer held by the department. From 10 January 2011 to 31 May 2012, the department received 474 Questions for Written Answer of which 318 (67.09%) were answered within 10 working days and 156 (32.91%) were not answered within 10 working days.
	In the current session, data are available for the period 11 June 2012 to 30 November 2012. The department received 117 Questions for Written Answer of which 40 (34.19%) were answered within 10 working days and 77 (65.81%) were not answered within 10 working days.

Schools: Funding

Baroness Sharp of Guildford: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the commitment by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Autumn Statement on 5 December to allocate an extra £100 million to new free schools and academies (Official Report, col. 876), what proportion of that sum will be spent on (1) primary schools, (2) 11-16s' schools, and (3) 16-19s' academies; and what account they take of demographics when deciding which schools to fund.

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The £980 million announced by the Chancellor in the recent Autumn Statement is intended to support the creation of new school places in areas experiencing the greatest pressure on places. Further detail about how local authorities can access this funding will be announced in the new year. It is not possible to say, at this point, how much funding will be provided to particular stages of education.